Grain drying and treating apparatus of the treated material vibrating type



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 9, 1945 Feb. 14, 1950 F B TQDDI 2,497,703

GRAIN DRYING ANb TREATING APPARATUS OF THE TREATED MATERIAL VIBRA'IINGTYPE Filed July 9, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 14, 1950 A F. B. TODD2,497,703

GRAIN DRYING AND TREATING APPARATUS OF THE TREATED MATERIAL VIBRATINGTYPE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 9, 1945 Patented Feb. 14, T1950 GRAINDRYING AND TREATING APPARATUS OF THE TREATED MATERIAL VIBRATING TYPEFloyd B. Todd, Merriam, Kans. Application July 9, 1945, Serial No.603,773

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to apparatus and a method for drying and treatinggrain and similar materials.

An object of the present invention is to provide compact apparatus andmeans whereby ef fective drying and conditioning of grain for storing isaccomplished. A further object is to provide a method and means wherebygrain and the like is passed through a series of treating zones in whicha medium of varying volume and velocitiesis being circulated, and alsointo a zone where the temperature is substantially reduced whereby thegrain, etc. is conditioned at a minimum of cost for storing, shippingetc. Yet an other object is to provide a process and apparatus in whichgrain and the like may be treated so as to reduce the moisture contentto the desired point, eliminate insects, germs, and micro-- organisms,and deliver the grain at a suitably cooled temperature for storage, etc.Another object is to provide a newmethod and means for separating grainaccording to size or eliminating grain fragments and particulate matterwhile the grain is being passed through drying and treating stages in asectionalized air-control apparatus. (other specific objects andadvantages will appear asthe specification proceeds.

The invention is illustrated, in a.- preferred em'-' bodiment, by theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a rear'vi'e'w in elevationof apparatus embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal sectionalview, the section being taken as indicated at line 2 of Fig. 1; and Fig.3-, a plan sectional view, the section being taken as indicated at line3 of Fig. 2'.

In the illustration given, A designates a frame or base; B, a casingproviding a plurality of treating zones; and C, apparatus having to dowith the intake and conditioning of the air or treating medium.

The frame or base A may be of any suitable construction. In theillustration given, the base provides means for mounting both of theunits B and C upon a single wheel-supported structure. in designateslongitudinal beams which are supportedat the rear u on axles H by wheels12. Similar Wheels may be provided at the forward end, or a support 13of well-known construction may be employed after the structure has beencarried to a suitable place for operation by a tractor, oil whichstructure A constitutes the trailer.

The structure B is. preferably formed of. sheet metal welded together toform a rectangular cas ingj l4. Vertical strips Ii support thestructure. Horizontal partitions i=6, l'i and B, which extend instaggered relation from one side of the casing toward. but not quitereaching the other side, provide with the casing four separatecompartments. The partitions l6, l1 and i8 may be provided at their freeends with short baille strips 1 9 ,20 and 21 respectively. With thestructure just described, it will be noted that the compartmentscommunicate with each other through outlets which are verticallydisposed but in staggered relation. The top compartment is provided withoutlets 22 provided with weather caps 23.

Within the chambers described, I provide sieve mechanism arranged at a.slight tilting angle whereby grain' maybe passed from the top chamherthrough the opening 24 into the next chamber below and thencethrough theopening 25: into the: second chamber from; the bottom, and then throughopening 26 into the bottom-most chamber. From the bottom-most chamber,the grain falls into the inclinedchute 21 which delivers it to anelevator.

The sieving means preferably comprises a seriesof trays 28, eachprovided with a screen, and the front end of the tray is preferablynotched at- 29 onv its: under side so: as to rest upon a round rod 30. Adriven shaft 3| supports the rear end ofv eachofthe trays 28 and isprovided with a series of knob-equipped disks 32 which, when the shaftis rotated, give the tray 2. rapid movement upwardly and downwardly. Thetrays 28 are freely mounted, as shown, and may be lifted off forsubstitution ofnew trays. Thus, a change in the mesh of the sieve may beaccomplished by moving the entire tray and substituting another thereforor by sliding. anew sieve into the bottom of the tray.

The compartments are shown equipped with adjustable dampers or gates, bymeans of which a. separate control of the air take-off is insured whilealso permitting the withdrawal of grain, fragments, and particulatematter from the chambers. The topmost compartment is provided with acontrol gate 33, the chamber therebelow is provided with a gate 34, andthe following chamber with gates 35 and 35 The lowermost chamber isprovided with a gate 36.

I. provide a spreader feed device for insuringan. even. distribution. ofth grain upon: the trays 28. As' shown. more clearly in Figs. 1 and 2,the elevator 31, which receives the grain to be processed, delivers itthrough a chute 38 into a hopper 39. From the hopper 39, the grain isdirected through a plurality of diverging partitions 40 onto the widetray therebelow, and thus insuring anv even distribution of the grainthereon. A

, damper or slide may, if desired, be employed to:

The air conditioning unit C may be of any suitable construction. In theillustration given,

a casing 42 provides a rectangular chamber closed at its forward end bywall 43 and controlled at its rear side with a plurality ofautomatically-operated louvres 44 of well-known construction. As a meansfor supporting the varied structures within unit C, I provide an innersupporting wall 42 braced by vertical angle I and in a relatively thinlayer over the tray is the hopper 39, the grain which partially fillsthe hopper is evenly distributed through the spaced inclined partitionsupon the tray 28 therebelow. It will be noted that the inclinedarrangement of the partitions 40 forms an ac curate division of thecross section of the grain load within the hopper 39 and thereby guidesthe equal components of the grain downwardly and over selected segmentsof the tray. In this manner, an accurate distribution of the grainaccomplished. The rotating shaft 3| through the knob-equipped disks 32causes a sharp upward and downward movement of the tray 28,

beams 42*. Within the interior are heating units 45 and 46 which heatthe incoming air to the desired temperature. The heating units may be ofany desired type or construction, but preferably are heated by oil andthrough the use of a forced feed supplied by compressed air. Suchstructures are old and no claim to them is made per se herein. It willbe understood that any suitable heating apparatus may be used. A motorfor driving the structure is indicated by 41. A central drive shaft 48is driven by motor 41 through the :belt drive 49, and a belt 50 fromshaft 48 serves to drive the air compressor 5|.

A belt 52 from the same shaft drives the blower 53. A belt 54 from shaft48 drives also the blower 55. The compressed air unit 5| supplies airfor the heaters and for the motor 41 which is preferably of anoil-burning type. It will be understood that such structure is describedherein merely as illustrative of the invention and any suitable powermeans and heating means maybe employed. It will further be understoodthat automatic controls, such as thermostats, will be employed tomaintain at all times the desired temperature within the main chamber ofthe unit C. Further, the airflow into the unit is controlled bywell-known automatic mechanism actuating the rotatable louvres 44. Sincesuch structure is well known and is not herein claimed per se, adetailed description is believed.-

unnecessary.

The blower 53 is preferably supported in the upper portion of the airconditioning compartment and is adapted to discharge air through aplurality of ducts which are separately controlled by adjustable dampersso as to feed into separate compartments varying controlled amounts ofair. The upper duct feeding the topmost compartment is indicated by thenumeral 56 and this is controlled by damper 57. The chamber below is fedby the intermediate duct 58 controlled by damper 59. A lower duct 60feeds the chamber second from the bottom and is controlled by damper 6|.The lowermost chamber is fed by the separate blower through the dampercontrol duct 62.

Any suitable means for driving the tray-rocking mechanism and theelevators may be employed. In the illustration given, chain driveconnections 63, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3, rotate the drive rods3|. At the opposite end of drive shaft 48, a jack shaft 64 is driven bymeans of bevel gear connections, and this serves to drive the elevator31 through the chain belt 65.

In the operation of the device, grain or other suitable material to betreated is fed into the loading elevator 31 at its enlarged hopper endand is carried upwardly for discharge through chute 38 into thedistribution hopper 39. From with the result that the grain is inchedforwardly for discharge upon the succeeding tray While at the same timecausing the particles smaller than the mesh of the sieve to drop throughthe sieve upon the compartment wall below. Thus the material which isnot to be discharged from the bottom compartment is eliminated duringthe drying operation. By controlling the mesh of the sieve, anyundesirable components of the material from the standpoint of the finalproduct to be discharged into the inclined trough 21 are eliminated uponthe various horizontal walls l6,

l1 and I8 and the bottom wall of casing. En-

, trance to the topmost compartment for removal ate 36.

of such material thrown down upon wall It isobtained by lifting theclosure 33. If desired, the damper 34 in the next compartment may bemanually adjusted so as to permit the incoming stream of air from duct59 to sweep the ma-v terial out of the casing B. Similarly, the blastfrom duct 62 may be utilized to remove the material upon the bottom wallof casing 42 out of the casing through the opening controlled by Ifdesired, air from the compressor,

' may be used to clean out all of the compartments.

Variable connections may be employed with shafts 3| to change the R. P.M. of the shafts to speed up movement of the grain over the trays whendesired.

In the treatment of grain, such as corn, rice,

wheat, soy beans, and the like, the need for air volume varies as thegrain is advanced through a drying chamber.

3 chamber, a substantial flow of air should be maintained so as to startthe heating expansion in the grain and produce some drying. The use of alarge volume of air here starts a vapor expansion within the grain and acapillary attraction action.

- which tends to bring moisture within the grain I while the flowthrough the chamber below is only 25 C. F. M. A satisfactory flow forthe chamber to the surface so that as far as surface moistureisconcerned there will probably be much more moisture on the grain at theoutlet end of the topmost chamber than at the inlet end. In the chamberbelow, there is considerably less need for, airflow because evaporationcan proceed only at;

a certain rate and the use of a large volume of air at this point, say,an amount equal to that em ployed in the topmost chamber, represents athe airflow is desired for the chamber below. In

the bottom-most chamber, cool air is introduced,

through duct 62.

As an illustration of a satisfactory method for. treating corn, a volumeof 50 cubic feet of air per,- minute for each square foot of grain areaon trays,

may be passed through the topmost chamber above the bottom-most chamberis 15 C. F. M,

For example, in the top accrues In the lowermost'chamhen: air is fedthrough duct 52 by means. of blower 55 which is located outoi casing 42of the unit: C, and the intake to the blower is open to outside. air Bythis means, as-upply of. cool air from the atmosphere is introduced:directly into the bottom. chamberso as to cool the grain and thuscondition it for storing. If heated grain. were stored in a. bin, suchheat, together with the remaining. amount of moisture, would tend toproduce an excessive temperature within the bin highly injurious to thegrain.

With the apparatus described, the incoming grain passes continuouslythrough drying. zones which. havev varying rates of flow of air thereinand are freed in the course of. such passage from matter that passesthrough the sieve, and finally, in thesame path, is cooled. so. that acompletely treated and conditioned grain is discharged into the outletcool grain elevator 4| below the bottommost chamber.

The temperatures maintained in the air conditioning unit C and withinthe chambers provided by the casing B will be varied according to thecondition of the grain, type of grain, and desired results. For example,in a dry period, unheated air may be used to dry the grainsatisfactorily. Under other conditions, where the grain is wet andconsiderable heat is required, the temperatures may be raised to 180 F.or higher. A thermometer D is shown in Fig. 2 carried by the ductmanifold.

It will be understood that artificial means may be employed if necessaryto cool the air entering the blower 55, but for all practical purposesit is found that the introduction of fresh air along with the rapid rateof flow provides all the cooling that is necessary. In many cases I findthat it is unusually efiicacious to introduce a germicidal materialalong with the cooling medium. The material may be introduced bysupporting it adjacent the intake of the blower 55. By germicidalmaterial I mean fumes, gases or sprays which are used ordinarily infumigating and disinfecting operations, and such material, by virtue ofits being introduced with a cooling medium, tends to remain with thegrain for long periods of time and prevents the growth of insects,germs, fungi, etc. therein. When such materials are introduced in theheated air, they become very rapidly dissipated and remain with thegrain for for an unsatisfactorily short time.

In order to determine the relative amounts of air (cubic feet perminute) flowing into the three upper chambers, the dampers 51, 59 and BImay be adjusted so that upon the discharge of a volume of air by theblower 33 into the manifold to which the three ducts are connected, thevolume will be automatically divided in the ratio desired.

My improved apparatus and process result not only in the drying of grainand the destruction and removal of insects, germs, etc., through the useof heat, but also serve to clean the grain and, if desired, may serve toseparate the grain in the different sizes. Further, in the conditioningof the grain for storage, the cooled grain is provided with a materialwhich prevents the growth of undesirable organisms over a substantialperiod of time.

While in the foregoing specification I have set forth considerabledetail for the purpose of illustrating one mode of operationillustrating the invention, it will be understood that such details maybe varied widely by those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. In grain dry ng and. treat ng. apparatus, a casing providing aplurality of longitudinal cham bers in superposed relation andcommunicating with each other to provide a continuous path for the flowof grain, a plurality of sieves. in each of said longitudinal chambersarranged with the lower end of one sieve overlapping the upper ;end ofanother so as. to provide a continuous path of grain from one end ofthecha-mber to the other, means for shaking each of the sieves, meansfor introducing separately a drying medium into certain of saidlongitudinal chambers, and. damper means for controlling theproportionate amount of drying; medium delivered into each of theseparate chambers.

2. In grain drying and treating apparatus, a casing providing aplurality of longitudinal chamhere in superposed relation andcommunicating with each other to provide a continuous path for the flowof grain, a plurality of sieves in each of said longitudinal chambersarranged with the lower end of one sieve overlapping the upper end ofanother so as to provide a continuous path of grain from one end of thechamber to the other and from the top to the bottom of the casing, meansfor shaking the sieves, means for introducing separately a drying mediuminto certain of said longitudinal chambers, and means for controllingthe proportionate amount of drying medium delivered into each of theseparate chambers.

3. In grain drying and treating apparatus, a casing providing aplurality of longitudinal chambers in superposed relation andcommunicating with each other to :provide a continuous path for the flowof grain, a plurality of sieves in each of said longitudinal chambersarranged with the lower end of one sieve overlapping the upper end ofanother so as to provide a continuous path of grain from one end of thechamber to the other and from the top to the bottom of the casing, meansfor shaking the sieves, means for introducing separately a, dryingmedium into certain of said longitudinal chambers, and means forcontrolling the proportionate amount of drying medium delivered intoeach of the separate chambers, each of said chambers being provided witha door-equipped outlet below the uppermost of the sieves in the chamber.

4. In grain drying and treating apparatus, a casing providing aplurality of longitudinal chambers in superposed relation andcommunicating with each other to provide a continuous path for the flowof grain, the openings between the chambers being in staggered relation,a plurality of sieves in each of said longitudinal chambers arrangedwith the lower end of one sieve overlapping the end of another so as toprovide a continuous path of grain from one end of the chamber to theother, the lowermost sieve of one chamber extending over the uppermostof the sieve in the chamber below whereby grain from saidfirst-mentioned sieve will fall through the opening between the chamberonto the uppermost of the sieve below, means for shaking said sieves,means for introducing separately a drying medium into certain of saidlongitudinal chambers, and means for controlling the proportionateamount of drying medium delivered into each of the separate chambers.

FLOYD B. TODD.

(References on following page) The following references are of record inthe REFERENCES CITED file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Parker June 30, 1874 Mey July 28,1874 Tiernan June 18,, 1878 Fleming Nov. 11, 1879 Slaughter July 24,1883 Shedd Jan. 26, 1886 Wilson et a1 Feb. 20, 1906 McCarthy Feb. 4,1908 Arnold Mar. 16, 1909 Applegate Jan. 31, 1911 Reynolds June 16, 1914Busch Aug. 11, 1914 Hess Aug. 24, 1915 Number Number Name 1 DateBorislavsky May 8, 1917 Gammel Nov. 12, 1918 Morris Dec. 17, 1918Little, Jr. Dec. 2, 1924 Aiken Jan. 5, 1926 Mofiett Jan. 4, 1927 FosterAug. 26, 1930 Stoll et a] Sept. 12, 1933 Hess Sept. 12, 1933 Pellegrinoet a1 Mar. 6, 1934 Henkle June 4,1935 Baughman Jan. 23, 1940 Naeher eta1 Aug. 15, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Mar. 3, 1937

